Wings of the Tormented
by Sora Pwns Your Sox
Summary: To be a guardian angel is to watch over the people you're assigned to, and make sure they're kept safe from harm. Roxas is about to find out what happens when you not only have an angel watching over you 24/7, but also have one living next door.
1. The Man in the White Suit

**Title: ****Wings of the Tormented**

**Fandom: **Kingdom Hearts

**Pairing(s): **AkuRoku (Main pairing), RikuSora, Zemyx, Seifner

**Rating: **T+

**Genre: **Romance/Drama

**Word Count: **3,091

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything to do with it, guys. D: I don't own any name-brand items that might be mentioned in this fan fiction either.

**Summary: **To be a guardian angel is to watch over the people you're assigned to, and make sure they're kept safe from harm. Rarely is one angel assigned to only one person in particular. Roxas is about to find out what happens when you not only have an angel watching over you 24/7, but also have one living next door.

**Author's Notes: **I don't really have much to say about this particular story. I thought it up a really long time ago, but I'm just now actually getting around to turning it into a nice story from Roxas's point of view. (The very beginning part is obviously not first person, but… Just wait.) Anyway, I'll try my best to actually finish this story. I don't finish many of my fan fictions, but I have so much free time right now that there's no excuse for me not to finish it. Enjoy~

**Chapter I: The Man in the White Suit**

"Come on, Roxas," the silver-haired man said in a silky, almost seductive sounding voice as he reached for the blonde's hand. Roxas slipped his hand into Xemnas's, letting him lead him up the old, wooden stairs.

The music blared in the room below. The floor shook from the music's vibrations under Roxas's feet as he tilted unsteadily. Why did he feel so unstable? He hadn't been drinking. Or at least, he didn't remember drinking. Not that that was a very good sign. Xemnas walked across the small room to the double bed in the corner. He sat down and crossed his legs, patting the spot on the mattress beside him, inviting Roxas to have a seat. The short, blue-eyed young man traversed the room and seated himself next to Xemnas.

"So, what did you need to tell me?" he slurred, giggling stupidly at the sound of his own voice.

Without warning, Xemnas was suddenly on top of him, his soft lips pressing against Roxas's in a firm, almost painful kiss. He kissed back, involuntarily, letting the older man dominate him as he shoved his tongue into Roxas's mouth. The blonde's head spun. He was just letting this happen, even though he didn't want it. When was his mind going to catch up with the rest of his body? Suddenly, he felt as though he would throw up. He opened his mouth to protest, but all that came out was an unintentional moan of pleasure. He felt Xemnas smirk against his own lips as he reached for Roxas's pants.

Suddenly realizing this was almost too wrong for words, Roxas aggressively broke the kiss.

"Xemnas!" he breathed roughly. "You said you had to tell me something!" He pushed against the silver-haired man's chest, attempting to wriggle out from under him, but Xemnas only pinned him back to the bed.

"I'm telling you something with my body," he replied coolly. "Actions speak louder than words, my dear." He gently tucked a blonde strand of hair behind Roxas's ear, smiling down at him.

"No!" Roxas yelled. "I don't want this, Xemnas! I thought we were friends!"

"Oh, friends we are," Xemnas whispered, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Roxas's neck.

"No," Roxas breathed, his heartbeat quickening. "No. Stop it, Xemnas. Please… Stop!"

I suddenly shot up in my bed, clutching my sheets tightly in both of my hands. If I had to guess, I would say that my knuckles were turning white from the pressure, but it was too dark to tell for sure, and I wasn't particularly concerned with my knuckles, anyway. I looked around in a panic. White walls, small bedside table, beat-up recliner in the corner of the room… I was in my apartment. I breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Of course, stupid," I whispered to myself. "Where the heck did you expect to be? It was just a dream."

I felt my forehead, worried I maybe had a fever, which could have caused that awful dream to resurface. My whole body was covered in a cold sweat, which wasn't exactly surprising. I shook my head, trying to get rid of that memory, as I had tried to do over a year ago.

Glancing at the digital clock on my bedside table, I saw that it was only 4:32 AM. For a moment, I contemplated going back to sleep, but I decided that another hour and a half of sleep wouldn't do me much good, especially if I would only have another dream about that night again.

So, instead, I made my way into the kitchen, wrenched the refrigerator door open, and snatched the carton of orange juice from inside, chugging half of it.

"Another great start to another great day," I muttered irritably to myself before heading to the bathroom for a freezing cold shower.

I had gotten lost in my own thoughts for far too long while in the shower, so I was running late for work. I cursed under my breath once I had finished showering and checked the time. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt out of my closet, and threw them on. I was about to blow dry my hair, but I decided to just let it air dry on the way to the Crimson Jazz. My hair was always a disheveled mess, anyway. I snatched a jacket from the coat rack, and with that, I was quickly out my apartment door, dutifully locking it behind myself.

It was a very sunny day, but still quite chilly, and I was glad that I had remembered to take a jacket with me. I then froze in my tracks, patting my pockets frantically.

"Oh, no, please tell me that I have it," I whispered to myself. "I don't have time to run back and get it!" Then I found it. My camera was safe in my jacket pocket, thankfully. Good thing I had accidentally left it in there yesterday.

My digital camera is my one prized possession. I never, ever go anywhere without it. Without my camera, I would feel somehow incomplete.

"You're late!" Cid shouted over the counter as I entered the Crimson Jazz. Cid Highwind is my boss. He's the loudest, most obnoxious man I've ever met, and he owns almost every business in this whole damned town. When I applied for a job at this café, I wasn't aware that I would be working for Cid, so once I was hired, I was a little unpleasantly surprised, to say the least.

"I know. Sorry, Cid," I replied coolly, taking my apron off a hook just behind the front counter.

"Sorry don't cut it, kid. You're nineteen fucking years old! You should be able to make it into work on time," he continued to yell, and the few customers that we had this early in the morning were starting to look either scared or concerned. Or both.

Over time, I've learned to just kind of tune out Cid's loud rants. It doesn't do me any good to listen to the insults that he sometimes throws at me, so I'll just nod attentively and try to look as though I hear him.

My best friend, Demyx, was currently standing right behind Cid, and he looked pretty scared and concerned, himself. He's never been quite as laid back as I am or at least good at faking it, so it's always been obvious that Cid scares Demyx half to death. He looked at me worriedly, and I gave him a slight shrug.

Once Cid was satisfied that he'd made his point, he retreated back to his office, and I sighed in annoyance.

Demyx scurried over to where I was standing. "How are you not scared shitless of that man?" he asked me, still looking sort of worried.

I chuckled at his question. "I don't know. I guess I just find him… loud and annoying. Not scary." I tied my crimson apron on, and Demyx did the same.

"Well, I find him very scary. That's why I always come into work on time. I'd rather not be yelled at for a good half hour, if that's all right with you. It's frightening enough watching him yell at you all the time."

"It's a wonder I haven't been fired yet. Cid really seems to hate me," I mused.

"As if he doesn't hate everyone," Demyx replied with a nervous laugh.

I smirked at that remark. It was true. Then I heard the small ringing of the bell above the entrance. I started to say, "Welcome to the Crimson Jazz," but noticed that it was just Yuffie, doing her best to sneak into the café without alerting Cid that she, too, was late for work.

"Trying to slip in casually without getting your ass chewed out yet again, huh, Yuffie?" Demyx called, almost mockingly. He obviously prided himself on being practically the only one who was ever at work on time.

"Shhh!" Yuffie hissed. "Keep your voice down, will you, Dem?" She took her own apron off its hook and quickly put it on, coming to stand next to Demyx and me as if she had been there the whole time.

Apparently, Demyx had called a bit too much attention to Yuffie's arrival, and Cid came out of his office to see what was up. "What's all this yelling about?" he asked, irritably.

"I wasn't that loud, was I?" Demyx mumbled to me under his breath. I shrugged in response.

"Yelling, sir?" Yuffie asked innocently.

Cid looked around skeptically, then turned to Yuffie and raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought I heard… Never mind." He turned around. "Sheesh, I'm getting too old for this job." We heard his office door slam shut in the back of the small café.

"God, Yuffie. You must be a ninja or something. Maybe I should try sneaking in the way you do every day. That would save me from a Cid rant or two," I said, seriously considering it.

Yuffie grinned at me, proudly. "Yepp, that's me! The great ninja Yuffie!" She giggled and skipped off to clean the tables that had only just been vacated.

"So, Roxas," Demyx began after Yuffie had gone. I looked up at him from the coffee cups that I was in the process of washing. "We still hanging out after work today?" he asked.

"You bet," I replied, hoping for the day to go by quickly. Working at the Crimson Jazz was nice and all, but I certainly had a far better time just hanging out with Dem.

Demyx and I have been best friends since our freshman year in high school. I was looking for a quiet place to study one day (the library was far too crowded for my taste), so I had decided to see if the music room was empty. When I walked in, I found Demyx sitting alone, just playing away on his guitar. In the back of my mind, I was slightly disappointed that the room was occupied, but I was also intrigued by the mysterious guitarist.

"What song is that?" I asked, hoping to not startle him, since he probably hadn't noticed I was even there.

He looked up, a bit surprised to see me standing before him, but replied, "Oh, uh… It's just something that I wrote. Nothing special."

"Really?" I asked. "I think it's great. You write songs?"

"A little bit… When I have some free time on my hands. I mostly just sit down with my guitar and play whatever comes to mind."

"You're really good," I said, and I wasn't lying. When I had walked in and heard him playing, I was surprised to find that it was a student playing so well. A student my age, nonetheless.

"You really think so?" his face lit up. "I've actually been thinking about maybe starting a band, but I'm not really sure yet. I'm Demyx, by the way." He held his hand out to me.

"Roxas," I replied, shaking his hand.

And we've been best friends ever since.

"Oh, wait," I said, remembering something all of a sudden. "I promised Naminé that we would hang out today. We never get to see each other anymore, since she's been so busy with college and everything."

"So bring her along!" Demyx replied with a wide grin.

"You mean it?"

"Definitely. It's totally cool. It's always nice to see Naminé." He grabbed a towel to dry off the cups after I finished washing them.

"Great." I smiled. "I'll call her to let her know what the plan is once we get off work."

_Ring… Ring… Ring…_

"Come on, Naminé, pick up." I stood outside the dimly lit café, holding my cell phone close to my ear and shivering only slightly from the chilly wind that blew through the town. I heard the entrance's bell ring from behind, and I knew that Demyx was coming to join me on the sidewalk. Yuffie was left to do the rest of the cleaning up tonight because Cid had figured out that she had been even later than I was this morning. I had chuckled inwardly when Yuffie was scolded by our boss.

"Hello?" came Naminé's voice from the other end of the phone line.

"Hey," I greeted, glad that she had finally answered. "You all done with classes for the day?" Naminé attends TTU, which is a pretty good university and everything, but we both know that she could have gotten into a better school. She's absolutely brilliant, but she wanted to go to the closest college possible so that we would still be able to hang out whenever it was convenient for her.

"Yeah, all done. Would you like me to meet you at the Crimson Jazz now?"

"That'd work. By the way, Demyx and I also made plans to hang out today, so is it cool if the three of us go out together?" I asked, hopefully, but doubtful that she would say no, anyway.

"Of course, Roxas! You know I don't mind." I could hear the grin in her voice, and I couldn't help but grin, myself.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit," I said.

"See you soon, Roxas," she replied, and we both hung up.

"So it's cool with her?" Demyx asked as I put my cell phone back in my pants pocket.

"Of course. You know Naminé. Always up for anything."

Believe it or not, Naminé and I had been friends long before I even met Demyx. She and I were in the same class in first grade. We never paid much mind to each other, until one day when we were supposed to draw pictures of our pets. When I was little, I had this tuxedo cat named Demetri. Unfortunately, I've never been a very good artist, especially not back then. So, naturally, I became very frustrated when I couldn't draw a cat correctly. I sat across from Naminé, and she noticed my frustration right away. Much unlike me, Naminé has always been a fantastic artist. So, being the kind person that she is, Naminé helped me draw Demetri, and it was the best drawing of a cat that I had ever seen. I was only seven years old, after all. Since then, we've been absolutely inseparable.

I pulled my camera out of my jacket. "Smile, Dem," I said, holding the camera up.

Demyx made a funny face, and I took his picture. I chuckled when I saw how the photo had turned out. "I said to smile, you goof."

He laughed as well, and I showed him the picture on my camera's small screen. "I think it looks better than if I had smiled. You know, I think you're just a natural photographer, Roxas. Every picture you take always looks great with the perfect angle and lighting. How do you do it?"

I shrugged. "I guess it's just a gift I have."

And we both sat down on the curb to wait for Naminé.

I looked through all the pictures on my camera that I had taken with Demyx and Naminé tonight on my way back to my apartment. I tried to decide which ones I wanted to hang on my walls at home. With that thought, I started to think that I would soon run out of space on my walls to put pictures because I took so many. What I needed was more picture frames! I practically collected them. I mean, I needed to with all the pictures I constantly took. If I had more money, I would have gone to buy some right after Demyx, Naminé, and I had parted ways for the night. Oh well, I thought, maybe some other time.

I climbed the stairs to my apartment, starting to finally feel exhaustion catching up with me, but when I got to the top, I saw a rather odd sight.

"Oh, hey, buddy!" the strange man standing in front of me called, obviously happy to see someone. "Think you could give me a hand with some of these boxes?"

I stared. This man was nothing like I had ever seen. He was very tall and lean with spiked, flaming red hair, and there was a tear-shaped tattoo on each of his pale cheeks. He was sporting a blindingly white suit, but for some reason, wasn't wearing dress shoes to go along with his insane outfit choice. No, he wore beat up, red Converse All Stars.

"Err… Hello? Anybody home?" the weirdo called.

I felt awful when I noticed I had been gaping at him like some kinda fish, but hey, what the heck did this guy expect? You go around dressing like that, and people are no doubt going to stare!

I felt a blush creep across my face. "What?" I called back, somewhat upset at him for basically mocking me.

"I was wondering if you could give me a bit of help with these boxes?" he gestured to the sea of cardboard boxes that surrounded him, and I noticed that he was standing in front of the door right next to _my_ apartment door. Wait a sec… _He_ was going to be my new neighbor? This freak? You've got to be kidding me.

"Come on, kid, please? I'd really like to get moved in as soon as possible, and it's late. I really need some rest."

I sighed in defeat and strode over to him, picking up one of his many boxes. I wondered absentmindedly what in the world he needed _all_ these friggin' boxes for, but I thought better than to ask. Starting a conversation with this unusual redhead was something I didn't particularly want to do.

"Thanks. You're a lifesaver, kid."

"It's Roxas," I muttered irritably under my breath.

"Come again?" the stranger asked.

"I have a name, and it's not 'kid.' It's Roxas," I repeated louder than I had originally intended to.

"Alright, alright, calm down there, Roxas," he replied, saying my name as if he had somehow known what it was all along. "I wasn't trying to offend you or anything." He bent down to pick up one of his boxes, as well. "Axel."

"What?" I spat.

"My name," the white suited man said, smirking for some reason.

"Oh," I felt another blush heating up my face, though I didn't know why, and I busied myself with taking more boxes into his mostly-empty apartment, hoping he wouldn't talk to me again, at least not until we had finished moving his thousands of boxes inside.


	2. The Uninvited Dinner Guest

**Title: ****Wings of the Tormented**

**Fandom: **Kingdom Hearts

**Pairing(s): **AkuRoku (Main pairing), RikuSora, Zemyx, Seifner

**Rating: **T+

**Genre: **Romance/Drama

**Word Count: **4,865

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the name-brand items that are mentioned in this story.

**Summary: **To be a guardian angel is to watch over the people you're assigned to, and make sure they're kept safe from harm. Rarely is one angel assigned to only one person in particular. Roxas is about to find out what happens when you not only have an angel watching over you 24/7, but also have one living next door.

**Author's Notes: **And here's chapter two. I'm starting to wonder just how long I'll actually make this fan fiction. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I suppose. Happy reading. :3

**Chapter II: The Uninvited Dinner Guest**

I set the last box down in my new, strange neighbor's apartment. I found it a little odd that this particular box was labeled "From Heaven" when the rest of the boxes had no writing on them whatsoever, but I decided that the box must be filled with some kind of porn or something along those lines.

"Thanks for all your help, ki-… Err… Roxas," Axel said to me, and I frowned at him through the darkness of the unlit room, knowing what he was about to call me.

"Yeah, sure," I replied nonchalantly, shoving my hands into my pockets. "Now, if that's all, I'll be getting back to my own apartment." I turned to leave, but Axel's voice called me back.

"So soon? Why don't you stay for a bit?"

"It's late, and I'm tired. I just want to go home and go to sleep," I retorted, still turned towards the door, refusing to look at him.

"It's not _that_ late. Stay for a drink or something. You helped me out, so I'd like to thank you."

I then turned to him. "Not interested," I said simply and left.

I had to admit that I felt just a little bad for shooting the poor guy down like that since he was new in town and probably didn't have any friends here, but not bad enough. He'd make friends soon enough. Weird friends, but friends, and I wouldn't have to speak to him ever again.

I sleepily unlocked my apartment door, took off my shoes once inside, and headed straight for my bedroom, flopping down on my bed without even bothering to put on pajamas of some sort. As I drifted off to sleep, the last thing I saw in my mind was ridiculous red hair and a white suit.

I awoke, very reluctantly, the next morning to my cell phone's loud, obnoxious ringtone. Truth be told, it's a fairly nice ringtone, but when it's early in the morning and all you want to do is sleep the day away, any sound is loudly obnoxious. It took me a little while to realize that the noise was actually my phone and not just some sound that was a part of a dream that I had been having, but I eventually regained full consciousness and flipped my phone open impatiently.

"Hello?" I mumbled groggily into the receiver.

"Don't tell me you were still sleeping, Roxas. It's already past noon."

"Oh, hey, Leon," I replied, knowing immediately who it was even though I hadn't even bothered to glance at the caller ID before answering. "Yes, I was still sleeping, and you woke me up," I grumbled.

"Well, someone had to. Otherwise, you would have just slept through the whole day, no doubt," Leon chuckled.

"I had a rough night, all right?" I suddenly remembered Axel, my bizarre new neighbor, and I rolled my eyes at the thought. "Anyway, is there any particular reason why you called?"

"You have the day off from work today, right?" Leon asked, but I wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this.

"Every Wednesday, since it's our slowest business day at the café."

"Great. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go out to dinner with me tonight. I'm not working either, and we really need to catch up. Cloud did pretty much appoint me as your second older brother once he moved away, and we barely even talk. Thought dinner might be a nice way to fix that."

When my brother, Cloud, had moved out of town, he worried that I wouldn't be looked after properly, despite technically being an adult, myself. Up until a year ago, I had lived with Cloud in his house, but he had to move once the company that he works for moved. He wanted me to go with him, of course, but I refused to budge. Twilight Town has always been my home. It's where all my friends are. I could never move away. After much negotiation, Cloud decided it would be all right if I stayed here by myself and got my own apartment. He calls every week or so to make sure that I'm doing okay, but since he couldn't actually be here with me, he decided to have his best friend, Leon, look after me. Leon works at a bar called 7th Heaven, which isn't all that far down the street from the Crimson Jazz, so it's easy for him to check up on me every once in a while.

"You don't have any other plans, do you?" he asked.

"Nah, of course not. Dinner would be great." Even though Cloud had intended Leon to basically be like a parent to me, he's always been like just another best friend. I enjoyed hanging out with him.

"Be at your place at 6:00 then?"

"Sounds good," I responded.

"See you then, Roxas." _Click. _

I thought about maybe going out for a while, perhaps to buy some more pictures frames or something, but I eventually decided against that as soon as I remembered who was now living next door to me. I was afraid that if I set one foot out my door, he would be there, and I would be forced to awkwardly interact with him. So I decided to just stay home until 6:00.

I busied myself with tidying up my apartment just a bit and printing the pictures that I had taken last night off of my computer. I then found a few picture frames that had apparently been hiding in the back of my closet and proceeded to hang the photos on my walls that were very quickly filling up with fond memories. Once I had finished hanging up all of my new pictures, I stood back and admired them, grinning at the one that I had taken of Dem and me outside of the Crimson Jazz.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard a loud rapping at the door. I frowned in my front door's general direction, and reluctantly went to answer it.

I wrenched the door open, only to see just who I wanted to avoid, and I had to suppress a sigh.

"Hey!" the redhead greeted with too much enthusiasm before I could even ask him what he wanted.

I decided I was rude enough to Axel last night, so all I said was, "Hello," with a straight face.

"What cha doing?"

I wanted to say _What's it to you?_ But I knew that was rude. Axel may be a complete weirdo from what I've seen so far, but he didn't deserve my discourtesy. "Err… Just… Stuff." I crossed my arms, shivering slightly. It was really cold out today, and Axel was only letting the chilly, fall air in.

"Cold?" he asked, and I could detect a small smirk on his smug face.

"No," I quickly snapped, feeling a little embarrassed. "Why would you think that?"

He just shook his head, but I was sure that he noticed my shivering. "Can I… come in? I mean, I wouldn't want you to be cold." Axel moved closer to me, and I took a step back.

I glanced at my wristwatch, suddenly worried about the time.

"Actually, I'm about to go out, so…,"

"Oh?" he looked disappointed.

"Uh, yeah. One of my friends will be here in about fifteen minutes to pick me up." I felt just a bit bad for the guy. It seemed like he just wanted a friend to hang out with, but I had to get ready for dinner with Leon. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. Catch you later." He turned and waved as he walked to his own door.

Maybe I should invite him to hang out sometime, I thought. How much harm could one crazy redhead cause?

Leon's always been a pretty cheap date, so we went to a little restaurant a couple blocks away from 7th Heaven called Dusk. It definitely wouldn't have been my first restaurant choice, but I wasn't about to tell Leon that when he had actually made the effort to hang out with me, especially since it got my out of my apartment for the evening.

We were seated at a booth against a wall on the far west of the little place. I was pleased with this because there was a wonderful view out the window of the perfect orange and purple splotched sky as the sun was slowly setting. I immediately wished I had my camera with me, but I had forgotten it in my hurry to get away from Axel. Such a shame to miss a photo opportunity like this…

"So…," Leon started as we both looked over our menus. "What's been going on?"

Even though we've known each other since I was in grade school, Leon always feels slightly uncomfortable during the first hour or so when we see each other. He always thinks small talk is the best way to go, but in reality it only makes me feel extremely awkward.

"Not much," I replied casually, not glancing up from my menu. I could see him nodding out of my peripheral vision.

"Anything… new happen lately?" he continued to prod.

I know that Leon means well when he asks me questions like this, but I don't particularly appreciate being interrogated.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat at this inquiry. Yes, I thought. I almost said, "I've got this crazy new neighbor who won't leave me alone," but I decided against that. No need to start a conversation like that when Leon was already ill at ease. But before I could even give a short "no," something caught my eye. It couldn't be, I thought. Why would it be? I forced myself to look to my right, anyway, and sure enough, I had been right.

It _was_ Axel's flaming red hair that had caught my attention. AND he was wearing that same blindingly white suit! He stuck out like a friggin' sore thumb! His face lit up when he saw me looking at him, and I immediately looked away, sinking lower in my seat. I could feel my face slowing coloring a light shade of red as I began to frown.

"Something the matter?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"No!" I panicked.

He raised his eyebrow even further, obviously not believing me. Well, who would believe me, screaming for, supposedly, no reason in a public place like that?

"I mean, uh, no." It's nothing," I quickly said, waving my hand dismissingly.

"Hey!"

"Oh, God…," I groaned, shielding my face from the person who was now standing next to our table. If I had sunk any lower in my seat, I would probably have been on the floor.

I saw Leon give Axel a small wave, but then he just turned back to his menu.

"Fancy meeting you here, Roxas!" Axel grinned.

As if it was an accident. It couldn't have possibly been an accident. But then… how did he know I would be here at _this_ restaurant? I didn't even know I'd be coming here until Leon and I actually arrived. I glared at Axel. What was the deal with this guy?

"Mind if I sit down?" Axel looked at me hopefully, only to find me glaring back, and his face fell dramatically. He then looked at Leon, hoping to get a positive answer from him.

Once Leon noticed the redhead was waiting for response, he coolly replied, "Go for it, man."

Axel's face lit up once more as he took a seat right next to me in our little booth. I tried to move inconspicuously to the left, so as not to be quite so close to our uninvited dinner guest. I suppressed a sigh and picked my menu back up, attempting to look busy so that maybe Axel wouldn't talk to me.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce us?"

I looked up to see Axel gesturing towards Leon, and Leon not caring to look up from his own menu. He must have had the same thing in mind as I did, just trying to look busy in this awkward situation. I was at a loss, so I just cleared my throat in order to get Leon's attention. He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, the way he always did.

"Axel, this is my brother's friend, Leon. Leon, this is my new neighbor, Axel."

My new neighbor then reached his hand across the table. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Leon!" he sang out, almost too enthusiastically.

My brother's friend took the hand that was offered to him, and simply said, "Likewise," as the two exchanged a very firm handshake.

I went back to looking at my menu. I wasn't all that hungry anymore.

When the dinner date finally ended, we, all three of us, headed out to Leon's car. Axel seemed to be following me, and I wondered to myself if he had somewhere better to be.

"Well, Roxas," Leon started, "and Axel, this was fun. We should do this again sometime." He smiled. I think he really meant it. Maybe he actually liked Axel, unlike me, but I smiled back and nodded in agreement anyway.

"Yeah, we should!" Axel chimed in. "Maybe the two of you could help me get to know the town a little better sometime."

I subtly rolled my eyes. Seemed to me like Axel knew the town well enough already. He somehow found me at this restaurant, right? I don't think he needed us to help him out.

"You bet, Axel." The two of them were exchanging a hearty handshake when Leon's cell phone suddenly began blaring from the pocket of his faded jeans. He pulled it out and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he answered.

Axel and I just stood there, patiently waiting while Leon mumbled into the receiver, not looking too entirely pleased, but nodding every so often. I could feel Axel's eyes on me, but I kept my own eyes looking straight ahead of me, fighting the urge to give him a dirty look.

Leon sighed heavily once he had closed his phone and jammed it back into his pocket. He looked over at the two of us, looking pretty upset.

"I'm really sorry, Roxas, but Tifa says she needs me to get to 7th Heaven right away. She says they're completely slammed right now and could really use my help." Leon shrugged at me helplessly. I knew there was nothing he could do about it, so I wasn't mad at him or anything.

"It's okay, Leon. I understand. Good thing the bar's not too far from here, right?"

Leon chuckled. "Got that right. Tifa sounded pretty stressed. But again, I'm sorry that I won't be able to take you home. I feel pretty bad."

"Nah, it's okay. I can walk, I guess," I replied. Though I suddenly remembered just how chilly it was once I began shivering again.

"Hey, maybe Axel can take you home," Leon suggested.

I knew he was trying to be helpful, but as soon as those words were out of his mouth, a loud, involuntary scoff escaped my mouth.

"Why would I want to go home with Axel?" I asked rudely, cramming my hands into my coat pockets. It was much too cold to be conversing in a parking lot like this.

"Well, you two _are_ neighbors. I bet Axel would appreciate the company, and I'm not sure I want you walking around by yourself at this time of night." Leon gestured toward the dark sky for emphasis.

I gave him a look that said, "Thanks a lot, jerk," and turned to walk away. _Now _I was mad at Leon.

"Alright then. See you around, Roxas! I'll call you," Leon called after me, and I heard him open his car door. I crossed my arms, angrily.

I guess I had been walking pretty quickly because Axel was jogging up behind me not long after Leon had driven away. I stopped and looked up at Axel. I probably had a pretty nasty look on my face.

"Do you have a car, or what? It's freezing out here." I squeezed myself tightly, shivering even more.

"Nope," Axel replied shortly.

I waited for a moment, staring at him. "What do you mean, 'Nope,'?" I spat.

"What do you mean 'What do you mean,'? I _mean_, no, I don't have a car, Roxas." He grinned at me, and I found that smile obnoxious. Almost patronizing.

"Then how did you get all the way here?" I asked, continuing to shiver and wishing I was at home in my bed, under the warm blankets.

Axel paused. He seemed to be contemplating something. Then he simply said, "I walked. What'd you expect?" My crazy neighbor was still grinning at me.

I sighed loudly and obnoxiously, and then turned on my heel to walk away as quickly as possible. I wasn't in the mood for arguing in a cold parking lot any longer. The sooner I got back to my warm apartment, the better.

I must walk much quicker than I thought because Axel was soon jogging up behind me once again.

"Are you mad at me, Roxas?" he asked, panting a bit from the short jog.

I stopped in my tracks, and looked up at him. It seemed like he was genuinely worried about me being _mad_ at him. I wanted to say, "No, I'm not mad. I just don't like you," but I decided against that.

"No," I replied. "I'm just freezing, and I want to get home." Hopefully, that didn't sound rude. Rude wasn't what I was going for this time. For once.

"We could always just steal someone else's car."

I stopped walking and looked up at him, once again. My face must have been pretty hilarious, because Axel soon broke out in a loud peel of laughter and clapped me on the shoulder reassuringly.

"I'm kidding Roxas! _Kidding_!" He paused and chuckled once more. "What kinda person do you think I am?"

"Honestly, Axel?" I said, calling him by his name for the first time in casual conversation. "I just don't know."

We had been walking for a while, and I was growing colder by the minute. Axel had offered me his unsightly, white jacket more than once, but I turned it down every time. Maybe he wasn't cold now, but I'm positive that he would have been cold if he took that off. I couldn't even understand why he wasn't already cold.

"You're _sure_ you don't want my jacket?" Axel prodded once more.

"Yes, Axel, for the millionth time, I'm positive that I do not want your jacket," I replied, growing bored of hearing the same question over and over. But before I could turn to him and tell him once more to quit asking, I felt something drape across my shoulders, and I immediately stopped walking. He had given his jacket to me, anyway, despite the many times I had turned him down. I started to shrug it off to give it back to him, but as soon as I looked up at his face, I decided against it. He was wearing a bit of a sad puppy type of look that gave me the impression that he would be simply heartbroken if I took his silly, white jacket off now. I don't know why, but the thought of that made my heart ache for a fleeting moment as I gazed into his deep, green eyes. He gazed back at me.

I began to feel a sudden blush creep across my face, and I instinctively looked away from him as quickly as possible and began walking again, more quickly than I had been before. I hoped in vain that Axel had not noticed my face growing red. I told myself that it was too dark out by now for him to perceive.

"Something the matter, Rox?" I heard him ask from a little ways behind me, as he had not fully caught up to me yet. I could hear the smirk in his voice. He had definitely noticed.

"That's Roxas," I snapped. My face was growing hotter still. I crammed my hands in my pockets, grumbling to myself and silently wondering why Axel was suddenly making me feel so… strange.

"Sorry, Roxas." He was by my side once more, though it seemed as though he was straining to keep up with me. Only then did I notice how quickly I was walking, and I decided to slow down. Surely by now, Axel had decided that _I_ was the weird one, not him, even though he was the one still dressing in a full-on white suit.

"Hey, Roxas! Is that you?" a silky, arrogant-sounding voice called from across the street, pulling me out of my oddly flustered thoughts. I froze at the sound. Surely it wasn't. It couldn't be.

I forced myself to turn my head in the direction the voice had come from, and when I saw who had called my name, my eyes grew wider. I could no longer move. I almost had to remind myself to breathe.

The tall silver-haired man waved vaguely, and I could barely make out two figures standing next to him, one on each side. No doubt, those two figures were his friends, Saix and Xaldin.

Suddenly, I was aware of Axel becoming very tense at my side. I glanced over at him. His face had hardened, his hands were balled into fists, and he was much closer to me than he had been just a second ago, standing over me somewhat protectively. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Axel was acquainted with Xemnas. I wondered if he, too, hated this man. If he did, it was most definitely for a different reason, and I wondered what that reason might be.

Xemnas began to cross the street alone, slowly making his way towards Axel and me. My mind raced, and my heartbeat suddenly quickened. I could hear the rapid, dull thudding in my ears as my skin began to crawl. I attempted to force the thoughts of the last time I had seen Xemnas from my mind, but it was much too hard. All the memories were resurfacing, and I was powerless to stop them. I wanted nothing more than to run, but I couldn't get any part of my body to move. I longed to run and run until my legs gave out, so long as I was able to get away from this place. Away from Xemnas and even away from Axel.

Before I could even begin to order my thoughts, Xemnas had stepped up onto the sidewalk. He was now within inches of me, and I was still unable to compel any part of my body to move.

However, to my own pleasant surprise, Axel had decided to step in front of me, blocking Xemnas from my view and me from his view.

"Oh. Who's your new friend?" I heard Xemnas ask in that same arrogant tone, though I could not see him. For some reason, the fact that he was now blocked from my sight made me feel slightly better, especially since Axel was the one standing in between us.

"Roxas, you've already gone and replaced me?"

I still didn't respond. I stayed rooted in the same place, only able to stare at the back of Axel's head, simply hoping that this situation would just disappear as if by magic.

"I don't think he wishes to speak to you," I heard Axel state expressionlessly.

"I'm sure Roxas can speak for himself," the man, whom I detested, replied. "And I don't suppose you and I have had the pleasure of meeting. I'm Xemnas." I imagined Xemnas putting a hand out to Axel, but if he had, Axel made no move to shake his hand.

"Axel." He still did not move. "But Roxas and I have better things to do. So, if you'll excuse us."

I abruptly got the intense urge to hug Axel for defending me this way, and speaking for me when I was unable to, myself. I knew I would certainly owe him one after this.

"Not very friendly, are you, _Axel_?" Xemnas spat, putting a particularly nasty emphasis on my strange neighbor's name.

I noticed Axel's fists trembling at his side as if he were trying with all his might not to punch Xemnas in the face right then and there. Then he quickly turned to me, grabbed me by the wrist, and began dragging me away. I stumbled at first, staring briefly back at Xemnas, who was standing there staring back at me, a smug look on his dark face. I quickly realized that, if I wanted to keep up with Axel, I had to jog, which was probably a good idea, considering he still had a pretty firm grip on my wrist. I didn't suppose he'd be letting go anytime soon.

"Axel," I sputtered, already running out of breath and beginning to trip over my own feet.

He paid no mind to me, as if I hadn't said anything, his eyes set on the street lamp lit path ahead of him. His eyes had a somewhat misty look to them which gave me the impression that he wasn't really seeing where he was going. He was just aimlessly walking in a furry of rage.

"Axel!" I said a bit louder than I had originally intended to.

Axel came to an abrupt halt, dropping my hand and letting his arm fall limply to his side. He still wasn't looking at me, just staring into the darkness in a daze.

I didn't speak again for another minute or so; I needed to catch my breath. After a while, I put both my hands on my hips and turned to look at him. He hadn't moved an inch. I had to wonder if he had even blinked.

"What was that all about?" I asked at last. I couldn't seem to find the words for a better question, but Axel didn't answer me. He still wouldn't even look at me.

"Axel," I said firmly as I moved to stand in front of him, rather than beside him. I knew he would have a harder time ignoring me that way.

He flicked his green eyes down on me for a brief moment.

"What was what all about?" he muttered, his voice so flat that it hardly even sounded like a question.

"Back there," I elaborated. "It was like… You suddenly just freaked out. You squeezed the hell outta my wrist!" I rubbed my wrist subconsciously. "You're usually so calm. I mean… What happened?"

Axel looked down at me once more, this time keeping his intense gaze locked with mine. "That guy," he began, "Xemnas… I just got a bad feeling from him." Axel shrugged nonchalantly. He paused momentarily, and then flashed an unexpected smile at me. "Besides, he was upsetting you," he finished.

And with that, Axel began walking again. The spring in his step seemed to be back, and I caught myself smiling once I noticed that Axel seemed happy again, more or less.

By the time Axel and I reached our apartment, the sun had set completely, and my feet were killing me. I definitely needed to exercise more if a walk like that tired me out. I couldn't wait to crawl into my warm bed. It's just too bad that I had to work the next day. I tried to suppress that horrible thought.

When we got to my door, I pulled my key out of my pocket and jammed it into the lock. I was now shivering uncontrollably against the cool, fall air.

I was about to open the door, when I noticed Axel was still standing behind me. I had expected him to proceed to his own door already, but I should have known better than to think that by now. I turned around to find him smiling down at me, almost… affectionately. I half-smiled back, my face growing slightly warmer.

"Well… Goodnight," I said simply, and then turned back around and opened the door.

"Wait!" Axel said entirely too loudly.

I jumped slightly at his abruptness, and turned back around, my eyes wide, staring up at him.

"Er…," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head with one hand, clearly embarrassed for practically shouting at me. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to…," he trailed off. I waited, crossing my arms as I continued to shiver. "If… maybe you wanted to go out sometime?"

I froze, completely at a loss for words. Did he mean like… a date? No… He couldn't have. I told myself I was silly for thinking such a thing. But… Why had I jumped to that conclusion so quickly?

Axel gave me a hopeful, yet somewhat awkward smile, still scratching the back of his head sheepishly. He did mean a date, didn't he?

I half-smiled at him again. "Goodnight, Axel," I said, still smiling. I then turned on my heel and walked into my apartment, quietly shutting the door behind myself.


End file.
